As the Israeli aggression in Gaza enters its 4th month, there are some new realities coming to light. The conflict is expanding not only in its duration but the severity also, as scores of Palestinians are being killed and injured on daily basis, while the world at large seems helpless in bringing it to halt. Condemnation, criticism and sending aid is the most anybody with a heart can do right now. It is obvious that Israel aims to settle the issue of Palestine once and for all. However, Israel and its allies may have some other pending jobs to accomplish through the mess they have created.
The closure of Suez Canal by Egypt in 1967 still haunts Israel who has been wishing escape from Egyptian control. It consequently conceived the Ben Gurion Canal project in 1960s to connect Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea. It serves two purposes; obviating Egyptian hegemony on world trade while establishing Israeli dominance over it. Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt connecting Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea through the Isthmus of Suez dividing Africa and Asia.Around 12% of world’s trade and 40% of world’s container load are passed through Suez Canal. Besides important trade route, the canal plays an important strategic role as a naval short-cut and chokepoint. Navies with coastlines and bases on both Mediterranean and Red seas have a particular interest in Suez Canal. In the current scenario, ships are being attacked in Red Sea by Houthis and global trade is disturbed.
The Ben Gurion Canal’s route was planned via port city of Eilat and the Jordanian border, through Arabah Valley for about 100 kilometres between the Negev (Naqab) Mountains and the Jordanian Highlands and veered west before the Dead Sea basin, while heading through a valley in the Negev Mountain (Naqab) Range. It would then head north again to circumvent the Gaza Strip and connect to Mediterranean Sea. It will be almost one-third longer than the current 193.3km Suez Canal. It was an expensive project due to which it could not come to fruition. With Gaza razed to the ground, there can be plans to reduce the cost by diverting the canal straight through the middle of the Palestinian enclave.
On the political chessboard, power rivalry between the US and China is persisting, giving rise to new concepts to counter China’s global influence especially the BRI. For instance, during the G20 Summit held in September 2023 in India, the concept of India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor was introduced, which was aimed at accelerating development, interconnectivity and integration between Asia, Middle East and Europe. It will consist of road transport, rail and ship to rail networks connecting India with Europe via Arabian Peninsula. It also includes an electricity cable, a hydrogen pipeline and high-speed data cable. This corridor shall be between Indian ports on west coast (Mundra, Kandla, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), UAE (Fujairah), Abu Dhabi (Jebel Ali), Saudi Arabia (Dammam, Ras-al-Khair), Israel (Haifa) Greece (Piraeus), Italy (Messina) and France (Marseille). Besides transforming it as a new locus of global power center, it is being seen as counter to BRI.
Although, IMEC is late from BRI by a decade, yet it is still an economical option than Ben Gurion Canal for which $100bn are required, that Isarel alone will have to invest in. Also, it will take very long time for Ben Gurion Canal to come in to fruition since Negev Mountains (Naqab) is the biggest hurdle to carve out the canal. Besides, the imperative of political stability and constant military threat are significant security concerns. All in all, the concept of the Canal faces gigantic logistical, political, and funding challenges posing substantial obstacles. On the other hand, most part of the IMEC already exists, while for the rest, a mutual fund with each member contributing $20bn will be established.
For the past few years, Israel has been keen to garner good relations with its Arab neighbors. Before the outbreak of Gaza conflict, there were news of likely reconciliation between KSA and Israel. It would have been a very significant development in the region as after KSA some other Muslim countries might have smoothly joined the trail. There is no doubt that the Gaza situation, besides accrediting domination of Israel, is somehow paving way for its economic hegemony also. Even though it may not be precisely aimed at execution of Ben Gurion Canal project, it is invariably according significance to the IMEC which will again be economically beneficial for Israel.
In Pakistan, we usually are skeptical of the projects that include India, which is not totally insane on our part. While continuing political, moral and humanitarian support to the Palestinians, we also need to have realistic analysis of this far side of the Gaza conflict. IMEC, although being posed as the counter to BRI, there is a need to take stock of the situation. The year 2023 was celebrated as decade of BRI and CPEC. Many events were held to commemorate this milestone, yet it was a unanimous conclusion also that CPEC was late vis-a-vis its stipulated timeline. Undoubtedly, there were certain factors beyond our control, yet some were not. Of late, our trade footprint was extended to the CARs when NLC achieved a landmark success by transporting goods from Pakistan to Kyrgyzstan via China, avoiding Afghanistan. If we join IMEC, Pakistan, via CPEC, can serve as bridge between Europe, Middle East, China and the CARs.
Reema Shaukat
The writer works at Institute of Regional Studies as Communi-cation Strategist and can be reached at reema.asim81@gmail.com